I am tier 2, but we dont really have a tier 1... just how we are set up. We have software for end users. Occasionally we get calls from the people like "the normal operator is on vacation, I have no idea what I'm doing and its not working can you fix it?" but generally we only deal with real issues. We do get some of the dumbies sometimes though... funniest one was a few weeks ago... anytime our servers go down hard (power outage, power off without shutting things down, etc.) it corrupts databases... well we spent about an hour or two fixing databases and then the lady says "power went out again" so we say "ok get it set up so we can connect in... she comes back a minute or two later and says "it looks like you are set up to connect in already"... WTF? Turns out her monitor was off and she figured the whole server went down again. Stupid screen savers!

My definition of "Great pay" means I know what I'd be making if I wasn't working here... no college degree, 7 years into my associates degree... no certifications such as MCSE, etc... no knowledge of much software except SQL and of course my companys software... and pullin in about 50k... not too shabby

 

There are times I miss it. I got slammed into a drywall pillar in the office and busted a huge hole in it.....moved a fake plant to cover it up.

We played mini badminton over the cubicle walls.

Oh and those cans of compressed air....turned upside down and shot onto the back of someone's neck while they're on the phone is always great....

 

Man that's just cold........


No, really, that's freakin COLD!

 

We also enjoyed mooning other working while they are on calls.... the greatest job satisfaction came from watching other folks try to explain why they are laughing to the person on the other end.

Another fond memory was warning the boss about slack security, then being ignored. We locked her out of her own mail and databases (working with Lotus Notes at the time). The look on her face was priceless. Again, never got fired or nuttin'. She needed us & we knew it. It was a love/hate relationship.

Matt - sounds like a nice gig you got. Back in the day first tier phone losers like us got maybe 30K a year. Not to say a college degree is worthless, but I'm a one semester college dropout, have numerous certs to my name and the resume to back them up - and have pulled down serious cash during the best all-time scam: Y2k Consulting!!!! The IT world is very good to the no-college-degree crowd.

 

It was awesome. Travel, fat expense accounts, bonuses like the world was going to end... and hours of great stories. That was a great 5 years. Damn the lack of a business model and the .com bubble burst!!!

I can only hope the few years leading up to 2038 is just as good to me!!

 

I worked for a company that made industry specific software. We tested our products and found out they worked fine with 2000. Well that sucked so our programming team, released a feature patch with some bogus feature and implanted a Y2K bug. Forced the user base to upgrade.

The smart customers and those that the techs manage to get ahold of ahead of time didn't install the patch and go figure their software worked fine.

 

ahh yes, Y2k Testing. I started about two years before Y2K and sine all oru customers are banks they had to proove to their auditors they were Y2K compliant... so naturally we sold them a several thousand dollar kit which was basically an optical disk (which at the time cost about $125 - we no longer us them) and instructions on how to change the date to 12/31/1999 and process, then change it to 01/01/2000 and process and make sure everything works fine. LOL.